Peach and nectarine
As TINO CARNEVALE explains, these stone fruits don’t fall far from the same tree, and there are even varieties available for pots and warmer climates
Some fruit are so beautiful to behold that poetry and songs are written about them. Peaches are one of those. They’re soft to the touch. The sweetness of their aroma is surpassed only by the sweetness of their flavour. We use them to describe things of goodness and positivity as ‘just peachy’ and ‘peachy keen’. We celebrate the peach, and rightfully so – it’s a thing of beauty.
Nectarines, on the other hand, are not lauded the same way. I can’t think of any songs or odes written about them. They seem to be the lesser Hemsworth brother of the fruit bowl, even though they are genetically so similar to peaches that, every so often, a peach tree will throw out a fruit with a seed that grows into a nectarine tree.
In many ways, a nectarine is just another variety of peach. There are slight differences in the texture and flavour of the two fruit, but the obvious difference is that a peach is furry and a nectarine is its bald twin. They have been traditionally thought of as two separate entities, but they are pretty much the same tree. They share a botanic name, Prunus persica, meaning ‘plum from Persia’, although their origins are further east in China.
getting started
There are yellow and white versions of both fruit, with the yellow having a more complex flavour, and the white being straight-up sweet. They can also be divided into clingstone and freestone. Clingstone means you end up sucking on the stone after you finish eating the flesh, whereas freestones just want to jump out cleanly. The main difference, other than how much nectar ends up on your chin, is that clingstones store better and are used more in jams and preserves, whereas freestones will bruise if you even look at them the wrong way, and are best enjoyed fresh.
These are self-fertile trees, so you only need one, although they do like a friend. Life is always better with more fruit!
They prefer an open position in full sun. While they grow to 5m high, annual pruning keeps them manageable, and there are also dwarf forms. Most varieties like a cooler climate, requiring several chill hours (below 7°C) in winter to set flowers and fruit. But if you’re in a warmer area, there are low-chill varieties, such as Tropic Beauty peach and Sunraycer nectarine, too. Try planting on a south-facing slope to increase chill hours, or reduce the canopy in mid-autumn (strip off some leaves) so cool air can circulate.
These trees like fertile, free-draining soil. If you can’t provide this, try growing dwarf varieties in big pots – a compact Trixzie Nectazee nectarine is ideal. This is also a good option if you need to move the tree around to make the most of the seasons and protect it from frost. If you want juicy fruit, watering is vital to keep roots moist during the early and later stages of fruit development. Thin crowded fruit to avoid fruit rubbing and branches breaking under the weight of excess fruit. This also gives you bigger, better-quality fruit. Depending on your area and variety, you can be picking any time between November and March.
pruning & troubleshooting
Prune straight after harvesting. With an established tree, the aim is to open up the tree’s centre to let air and sunshine into the canopy, and cut all of the old fruiting wood back to its main branches, leaving a couple of buds at the base. They respond with a flush of new growth, on which next season’s fruit forms. It’s also a good time to feed your tree with an organic fertiliser.
Follow up with a light pruning in winter when the tree is bare, to thin crowded laterals (new stems) to about 20cm apart. Light tip-pruning of the remaining laterals in spring can reduce the crop load, and the canopy that would eventually shade the fruit (sun exposure helps with ripening).
As for problems with these trees, I can’t pretend they don’t exist, but navigating them is worth it. Control fungal problems such as peach leaf curl with late-winter applications of a copper fungicide. To prevent brown rot, thin fruit that is touching. If you want a decent crop, protect the tree from birds, possums and fruit fly using suitable netting. Everything that flies, creeps, climbs and crawls wants a crack at your bounty, which is probably the best proof of just how delicious peaches and nectarines are.